[Pneumothorax and subvesical urinary tract obstruction in newborn infants--a pathogenically related symptom complex]

Within a period of 3 years 4 mature male neonates were observed with an unusual complex of symptoms: subvesical obstruction (valve) with spontaneous pneumothorax/pneumomediastinum. All infants showed immediately postnatal respiratory insufficiency. There are pathogenetical relations between renal and urinary tract malformations and pulmonary changes, which are recognized in Potter's sequence with pulmonary hypoplasia. The authors postulate a deranged dynamic of pulmonary fluid by oligohydramnios, causing increased vulnerable lungs also in such cases without typical x-ray signs of pulmonary hypoplasia. A spontaneous pneumothorax/pneumomediastinum in newborn infants should be the sign to perform nephro-urologic (sonographic) examination.